I made a brush handle out of an old friend yesterday. I met this tree over 40 years ago. It was in the perfect spot on the edge of a huge cat-tailed slough. At it's base was a deer trail that forked to the NE and NW at about 12 yards. This nasty old Russian Olive was the only tree around for miles on the prairie. It had survived countless severe thunderstorms and even a lightning strike. Mother Nature finally got the best of my buddy. Rising water and a heavy wind tipped it over. I salvaged a few pieces wood for some projects. I been an avid bowhunter for years and have spent many hours in this tree with my longbows and wouldn't venture to guess how much sausage and steaks came from this tree. It's a pretty good size handle, over built design almost to the point of being cartoonish.
Beautiful piece of wood @oscar11. It sounds like you are old friends with this tree, from which the wood came from. What size knot and type will you install in it Steve?
Not sure on the knot. I just ordered a bunch again. I have a big Omega boar, another SHD and four or five synthetics coming in the mail. I'm leaning toward another SHD.
What are the depth and diameter Steve? Do you install with silicone, so the knot can easily be removed?
I use silicone sometimes but if I use the SHD or the boar I'll glue. This handle has a 1 1/8 " hole and the knot is 26mm (it's oversized and will measure 28mm and maybe a little more). I'll set it around 52mm. If I go with the big Omega boar, same hole size but will set the knot to around 56-57mm. If I'm fooling with synthetics I like to leave them as long as I can (initially) and will temp them with silicone unless I've used them before or think I know what I'm doing, lol. I do have a few synthetics coming that I haven't used before, brown syn horse in 2 sizes, a 2BED syn. 2 band and a big Black Wolf. (edit Timber Wolf not black wolf)
